Ah, pesto. Pesto is one of my favorite things in the whole world. But alas, pesto, by default, isn’t vegan. Traditional pesto is made with Parmesan cheese, in case you didn’t know. There are a few vegan brands out there, but I can’t always find them at the store. And that makes life tough when you LOVE pesto as much as I do. So I make it myself. The good news is that that’s pretty easy to do! By simply omitting the Parmesan cheese, we can convert a traditional pesto recipe to vegan-friendly. This vegan pesto recipe is super simple! And it doesn’t even taste all that different from the conventional stuff, I promise. But if you are missing the cheesy flavor in your pesto, I have a solution for that, which you can apply if you choose. Read on to learn all you need to know.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Basil. Fresh basil is the key ingredient and flavor in homemade pesto. You will need a lot of it. If you can grow your own basil plant, fantastic! If buying store bought, you’ll probably need at least 3 or 4 medium sized bunches. Large leaf Italian basil or sweet Genovese are the types you’d use for conventional pesto, but you can absolutely experiment with different varieties.Pine nuts. Pine nuts are traditionally used for pesto, but they can be replaced with other seeds or nuts if they’re unavailable. Walnuts and sunflower seeds make great substitutes. You can also try my pistachio pesto recipe.Garlic.Salt & pepper.Lemon juice. A bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice is optional, but it’s great for adding a little zip to your pesto that might be missing since we’re not using cheese.Olive oil. Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Variation: If you really find yourself missing the flavor of cheese in your pesto, try adding a bit of nutritional yeast or vegan Parmesan cheese.
How It’s Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!
Place your basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice into a food processor bowl, along with half of your olive oil.
Tip: Don’t have a food processor? A blender should work for this recipe, but you’ll probably have to do quite a bit of scraping the inside of the pitcher and rearranging the contents in order to get everything blended. You could also grind your ingredients in batches using a mortar & pestle.
Begin running the machine. Once the ingredients are pretty well mixed and finely chopped, start drizzling in the rest of your olive oil.You can stop adding oil once the pesto reaches your desired thickness.
Tip: Want to reduce the fat/oil content of your pesto? Replace up to half of the oil with water. This will alter the consistency of the sauce, but it will still taste great.
Give your pesto a taste-test and make any adjustments you’d like. This might mean adding more salt, more lemon juice, or even more garlic.Your vegan pesto is ready to enjoy!
Tip: Once you’ve gotten the basic recipe for vegan basil pesto down pat, you can experiment with other fresh herbs and greens. Try parsley, cilantro, spinach, arugula, and carrot greens. Stick with more delicate varieties that will blend well.
Shelf-Life & Storage
Homemade vegan pesto will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 5 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months. A great hack is to divide your pesto into single serving-sized portions (1 to 2 tablespoons), and freeze them in ice cube trays. Once frozen, transfer your pesto cubes to a sealed container and thaw as many as you’d like to use at a time.
More Vegan Sauces & Salad Dressings
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